Tradition républicaine et république nouvelle à Florence Francesco Guicciardini et lalibertà fiorentina

The wars of Italy (beginning in 1494) and the following upheavals in Florence (where the Grand Council Republic was set up after the fall of the Medici) led Francesco Guicciardini (1483–1540) to think about the «natural» obviousness of the concept oflibertà fiorentina. His method was «not to let oneself deceive by words to such an extent that things are no longer considered». It made him abandon the question of good government for the one of the effects it produces, and induced him to give, «under the sweetness of the word liberty», prominence to the political stakes. From then on, there was no longer a natural obviousness for the aspiration forlibertà, but the necessary analysis of the political and historical circumstances, of the «condition of the times».     

Les Fausses Confidences et “L'intendant de Qualité”

In Pierre Bourdieu's Les règles de l'art, Gustave Flaubert and Frédéric Moreau emerge as the ancestors of twentieth-century intellectuals, whose relative autonomy rests on a complex interplay of economic and political factors. What happens if one uses Bourdieu's discussion of L'éducation sentimentale as a model for analyzing an earlier pair of novels that also map out Parisian culture and society from the point of view of a young man who fails? Balzac's Illusions perdues and Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes offer a panorama of Parisian culture that, at least at first glance, bears a striking resemblance to the world of L'éducation sentimentale as seen through Bourdieu's lens.     

La république des « humeurs » : Les querelles dans le dictionnaire de Bayle

Quarrelling is a ‘routine’ activity of the Republic of Letters. This article demonstrates that quarrels played a key role in the field of historical criticism. The contention of this article is twofold. First, it explores the epistemological issues raised by Bayle while reporting the quarrels of the Republic of Letters, and demonstrates their creative potential, thus applying to historiography conclusions drawn by recent research on scientific controversies. It offers a new understanding of scholarly quarrels, here understood as a socially and intellectually structuring activity. Second, this article takes issue with the debate over Bayle’s historical pyrrhonism. As will be shown, the quarrels constitute a key element within a method of writing history that is both conscious of its limits and confident of its investigative powers     

De Gilles Groulx à Jean-Marc Vallée: Transnationalisme,Américanité et Territoire dans le Cinéma Québécois

As a recent phenomenon which strongly resonates with a transnationalism that can be understood as a desire to transcend both physical and cultural borders, the exile of Québécois filmmakers to Hollywood raises issues surrounding the notions of identity and territory that are relevant to Québec politics and cinema. This vast migration of successful filmmakers who are invading Hollywood with their Québécois imprint allows us to revisit the notions of Americanness (américanité) and territory, at a time where globalization and cultural diversification are blooming. In order to better explore those issues, we will retrace the evolution of the notion of Americanness in Québec films produced at various periods of time. Likewise, the study of the more recent works of Québécois director/auteur Jean-Marc Vallée will allow us to discover the director’s diversified representations of contemporary American dreams and landscapes.     

L'imaginaire masculin et la soumission des vassales dans le Royaume Latin de Jérusalem vers 1200: un jalon supplémentaire dans l'histoire de la violence symbolique envers les femmes

The particular circumstances concerning the survival of the Latin kingdom and the pivotal importance of military matters determined the priorities of its ruler. Above all, he needed to ensure effective and complete feudal service as well as the loyalty of all his vassals. This article reveals the originality of some of the clauses found in the Livre au Roi, a custumal on feudal law composed around 1200, demonstrating that its compiler did not shrink from innovating in this area in his intention of giving the monarchy the juridical basis necessary for political centralisation. By examining closely four specific examples from the Livre, which deal with noblewomen (the service of marriage of unmarried heiresses; the remarriage of widows; the rights of wives of heretical and apostate knights; and the fate of wives of knights suffering from leprosy), this analysis of the Livre au Roi shows how the monarchy of Outremer sought to strengthen its domination over noble families by manipulating the fragile status of vassals in the Latin kingdom. As the discussion sheds light on the notion of symbolic violence against women, it can also reveal much about perceptions and representations of women and of their bodies in the middle ages, as well as how male domination was, as a consequence, reinforced.     

Les Maladies de L’âme Comme Lieu de Rencontre Entre Médecine et Philosophie dans les Textes Arabes Médiévaux (IXe-XIe Siècle)

In the medical texts written in Arabic between the 9^th and the 11^th centuries, the diseases of the soul played an important part in the physicians’ reflection on the nature of the soul and its relationship to the body. In the 9^th and the beginning of the 10^th century, this medical anthropology was shaped by a tradition that was both Platonic and Galenic. But in the 10^th, the influence of Aristotle became most prominent in Arabic philosophy, and as a result the main lines of this medical anthropology were questioned, as was the role of medical knowledge and its relation to natural philosophy.     

“Jérémie rejoint Guedalias: deux récits,combien de fabulae?”1

Après le récit de la chute de Jérusalem devant l’armée de Nabuchodonosor, le lecteur du livre de Jérémie découvre aux chapitres 39 et 40 deux récits dans lesquels Nebouzaradân libère Jérémie et lui permet de rejoindre Guedalias; le prophète choisit alors de demeurer au milieu du peuple. La lecture suivie de ces deux récits présente une solution de continuité narrative. Même si cela interdit certaines lectures synchroniques, la remise en cause d’une hypothèse implicite sur la linéarité de la fabula permet de penser l’effet du texte en sa forme finale sur son lecteur. Contrairement aux romans classiques du XIXe siècle, on peut découvrir ici un effet similaire au Verfremdungseffekt du théâtre de Bertolt Brecht.     

A la recherche du “récit de l'Arche”: à la recherche de Saül. De Shilo à Gibea

ABSTRACT

Depuis l'étude fameuse de Rost, le “récit de l'Arche” est devenu une unité narrative indépendante dans le premier livre de Samuel. Les travaux successifs ont toutefois peu à peu ruiné la cohérence de cette unité en lui enlevant son aboutissement avec David à Jérusalem (2 S 6) et même en la faisant commencer dès 1 S 2. S'il apparaît opportun de faire débuter le récit avant 1 S 4, pour garder le contexte de Shilo et du prêtre Éli, on peut alors tenter de le faire dès 1 S 1. Pour cela, il importe de lire le récit de naissance de ce premier chapitre non comme étant celui de Samuel mais comme celui de Saül. En effet, les indices littéraires de ce texte montrent que le nom “Samuel” ne correspond pas au contexte narratif. Or, comme Samuel est totalement absent du “récit de l'Arche”, on peut dès lors proposer une lecture des premiers chapitres sans ce personnage, pas en délimitant des unités narratives indépendantes mais en recherchant une strate rédactionnelle ancienne. De cette manière, ce “récit de l'Arche” devient bien plus un “récit d'accession au pouvoir de Saül”, récit qui nous mène de Shilo (1 S 1; 4) à Gibea (1 S 7,1; 10; 14), en passant par Rama et son voyant anonyme (1 S 9).     

“Mourir au monde”. Les ordines de séparation des lépreux en France aux XVe et XVIe siècles

Since the recent publication of a catalogue of the printed rituals in French dioceses, we can list seven ordines of seclusion of lepers existing in France around 1490–1550. In fact, for two of them, the most common, two distinct versions having the same incipit are found. Most of these ceremonies are parodies, some closer than others, of funerals and tell the sick: Sis mortuus mundo. As far as France is concerned, these rites were only followed in one diocese out of ten, but they represent a common liturgical habit in the northeast part of the country. They may have originated in 1400–1450 from the same inclination towards a grim mood as the Dances of Death. They probably exorcised other fears than that of the leper — then dying out-, and were only to disappear slowly and gradually at the time of the Counter-Reformation, after about 1560.